Unit on the Colonies and the American Revolution
Grade: 8th
Proficiency Level: Level 2-3 (high beginning)
Objective: SW learn about colonial times
SW learn about key people involved in the American Revolution
SW learn about important events leading up to the American Revolution
SW learn about important events during the American Revolution, the
outcome of the Revolution, and what changes happened afterwards
SW read and discuss the book The Winter of Red Snow to supplement their
learning of the Revolutionary War
WIDA: 2, 5
NJCCCS: 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 6.4
Key Vocabulary: colony, independence, treaty, economy, export, import, jury, regulate,
tax, ally, declaration, loyalist, patriot, constitution, territory, compromise, alliance, ratify,
amendment
Resources: Exploring American History (1) – McGraw Hill
Pacemaker US History text – Globe Fearon- Pearson Learning
isbn: 0-13-024410-4
The Winter of Red Snow by Kristiana Gregory isbn: 0-590-22653-3
American Revolution – Scholastic
American Lives (1) – New Reader Press
Procedure:
The teacher will activate students’ prior knowledge by asking them if they have
heard of the American Revolution, Revolutionary War, or George Washington. Students
will then share whatever they know about the colonial time period and Revolutionary
War. After the discussion, the students will be told that they are going to learn about how
the colonies started, and then what happened to spark the American Revolution (as this is
supplementing what is being taught in the LA and SS classes). The teacher will use the
Pacemaker textbook to introduce information to the students. The other resources will
supplement the learned material from the Pacemaker textbook. Starting at Chapter 2 of
the Pacemaker text, the students will read about how the colonies are settled, during
which time new vocabulary is introduced. There are section reviews in which there are
comprehension questions. The teacher will discuss these with the students while reading
to determine their understanding. The teacher will also stop at different points in time
while reading to let the students discuss what they have learned and ask questions.
Different supplementary material can be used during these times. When George
Washington is introduced in the text, the teacher will use some of the supplementary
materials to give the students more background knowledge on George Washington and
other key figures in the Revolution. Some sections of the text may be skipped, as
determined by the teacher. The teacher will spend some time focusing on the original 13
colonies as well (section 3). The teacher will, at an appropriate time, give a short quiz to
the students to make sure that they know the original 13 colonies. They will have to
identify the colonies (or now the states, if a blank map of the original colonies cannot be
located) on a blank map.
The next chapter of the text deals with the growth of the colonies. The teacher won’t
focus as much time on this chapter, but will overview several key points for the students.
It is important that they know how the colonies grew and developed, but just an overview
is necessary. In section 3 of the chapter, the teacher will again go into depth with the
material. This section talks about the Great Awakening within the colonists, and then the
text leads into the reasons why the American Revolution actually started. The teacher
will supplement this section with information from the Scholastic book with the section
“Acting Up”.
Chapter 4 in the text deals with the struggle for freedom, and the teacher will spend a lot
of time focusing on this chapter and with student discussion to really develop a thorough
understanding of the events that were happening in the colonies that really lead to the
Revolutionary War. Additionally, the Exploring American History 1 book will
supplement the text (Chapter 4 in EAH1) . It goes into details about some of the specific
and more important battles within the Revolutionary War. During this chapter, the
students will be given ample comprehension discussion questions (some taken from the
text, and others developed while reading to spark discussion among the students).
The last chapter that the teacher will introduce will be Chapter 5, which discusses how
the colonies established a government (this will be good to discuss, as later on in the year,
the students will be taught about the current American governmental system). The
teacher will ask students what they know of the government today, our freedoms as
citizens, etc. Then the teacher will ask students to think about what it was like back in
those times, and do they think the government today is still the same as it was created
originally after the Revolutionary War. The teacher will then introduce the sections to
the students, focusing on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. There will be discussion
about each of these. The following section talks about George Washington as the first
president. Since George Washington was a general, the students will be asked why they
think that the people elected him to be the first president of America. What
qualities did George Washington have that made him a good person to be president.
Do we look for similar qualities in the presidents that we elect today?
There will be lots of discussion of all of the content taught and introduced.
During the time that the students are learning about the Revolution, they will also be
reading The Winter of Red Snow to supplement their learning of life in that time period.
The book is set during the time of the revolution, and it is written in a diary format from
the eyes of a colonial girl who experienced the revolution. Each day, there will be time
given to a section or so from the Pacemaker textbook, and then there will also be a few
diary entries that are read from the novel. There will be ample discussion with the
students on both topics. The students are beginning levels of proficiency, and they need
to build their confidence in speaking in English. The students will be encouraged to
speak with each other, and they will be required to answer questions (or at least try their
best to answer a question).
During their LA times or SS times, the students may go ahead and read ahead in the
novel, or they can review any of the handouts that are given during ESL time.
Writing Activities:
During this unit of study, the students will be given several different writing
activities or even presenting activities (they can research a person important to the
Revolution and give a short presentation on who the person was, important facts about
that person, and why they were important to the Revolutionary War).
Other activities could include writing short answers to critical thinking questions. Only
some are listed below.
Why were all of the 13 colonies developed along the coast and not further inland
and why was this important?
Would you have wanted to live during the time of the colonists – why/why not?
How were the times of the colonists different from now – are there any similarities?
Assessment:
Assessment is mainly informal observation through discussion questions and ongoing throughout the entire unit. With ample discussion questions, the teacher will be
able to feel if the students understand the lessons being taught. There will be a few
quizzes (short quizzes looking for basic overall comprehension since the students are
only level 2) as well to make sure that the key information about the colonial times and
the revolution was understood. Since ESL for the level 2 students is not graded, they will
not be expected to have any large tests covering this information. However, they may be
asked to do some research, with help from the ESL teacher during class time, on a key
figure in the American Revolution. Since they need to improve their confidence in
speaking in English, the students will be asked to give a very short presentation (only a
few minutes) on the person that they researched and found out more information about.
They may also be asked to retell some of the key points of the American Revolution.